By Roli Srivastava
GORAKHPUR, India, Feb 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Balloon seller Nisha, 9, said purple was her favourite colour as she spoke into the microphone on a radio show in north India dedicated to highlighting the voices of child workers.
Nisha was among a group of children working and living on the streets of Gorakhpur, an impoverished town where child labour remains rampant, who stormed into the radio studio on a winter afternoon to recite poems, sing or talk about their day.
“I am told you give away balloons for free to some children,” disc jockey (DJ) Jyoti Singh asked Nisha on radio channel Loudspeaker that was set up last year by an anti-trafficking charity to focus on children’s issues.
“Yes, I do that when I see them cry,” said Nisha, rocking on a swivel chair as she took part in a newly-launched hour-long weekly show featuring child workers.
The International Labour Organization estimates there are about 10 million workers between the ages of 5 and 14 in India and about 150 million child labourers globally.
Indian law bans the employment of anyone aged under 15 but children can “support” family businesses after school hours.
Campaigners said this concession for family businesses has enabled employers to hire children to work in brick kilns, bangle and garment units, shoes factories and also on the streets and at train stations selling balloons, water or tea.
Street children are the most visible form of child labour, according to campaigners, but often not given as much attention by authorities as those working in brick kilns or factories.
“Children on the streets are child workers but they are not victims of trafficking who have been separated from their families,” said Vishwa Vaibhav Sharma, founder of Safe Society that launched the Loudspeaker radio channel last year.
The charity launched the weekly radio show on child workers four months ago to give children a medium to express themselves and to give the town a lesson on empathy and child labour laws.
